Like the music of fellow synthpop freak Jimi Tenor, that played by the duo of Rättö ja Lehtisalo seems to come from a strange otherworld of their own devising, one where off-kilter percussion and jazzy notes sidle at the beck and call of Mika Rättö‘s distinctively weird vocals. It’s not even because they’re in Finnish, because Mika has an international delivery offset by the trademark tendency to surprise at any given turn which he also brings to his vocal work in Circle alongside Jussi Lehtisalo.

So while there’s none of Ed Benttonin briljantti stabilismi tai taivaallinen kylpysaippua‘s eccentric synthpop mania, nor even Kopernikus Hortoilee Näkinkengässä‘s archly motorik‘n’melodic pop, there is plenty to marvel in here, from the shuffling rhythms and soaring

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"When they’re all playing harmonising black metal riffs, it creates a sound as full and dense as the forests of Washington State that inspire their eco-friendly riff collage" @wittrofficial @aluk_todolo live at Heaven https://t.co/FbWfunzE6w

"The English Heretic project has been consistently putting out strange and beautiful collections for a while now and this release comes with an OZ-style booklet, lurid and bloody and filled with ephemera..." https://t.co/EHK6vpWzZc